Raises for New Philadelphia city workers on hold

The facts may be muddled, but the message is clear: Two-year pay raises for 29 city employees, including department heads, were not approved last week as City Councilman Darrin Lautenschleger had thought.

The facts may be muddled, but the message is clear: Two-year pay raises for 29 city employees, including department heads, were not approved last week as City Councilman Darrin Lautenschleger had thought.

And it appears, following a special council meeting this week, that those raises will not be approved any time soon — and maybe not at all.

Lautenschleger had announced the raises as being approved in an amended temporary appropriations ordinance, passed by a 4-3 vote, during council's regular meeting Dec. 23. He said he learned later that wasn't the case.

The temporary appropriations ordinance called for the employees, who are not members of a bargaining unit and including department heads, to receive a 2.75 percent annual increase — retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013 — followed by a 2.5 percent annual increase for 2014, effective today.

Lautenschleger said City Auditor Beth Gundy contacted him shortly after the Dec. 23 meeting "and indicated that she would be unable to pay the increases as authorized in temporary appropriations because she felt there needed to be separate legislation."

Following that contact, Lautenschleger said he sought an opinion from Law Director Marvin Fete "because the intent was for that to start Jan. 1."

Fete's opinion, which Lautenschleger said he received Friday, sided with Gundy's observations. So Lautenschleger, a member of council's Finance Committee, immediately called for a Finance Committee meeting Monday night to propose a new ordinance.

The Finance Committee meeting was followed by a special City Council meeting, called by Lautenschleger and three other council members, to consider the newly proposed ordinance.

The proposed ordinance was amended during the committee session to eliminate the proposed 2.75 percent increase for 2013, and combine the two rates into a 5.25 percent increase for 2014.

Since two of council's seven members were absent Monday, and six votes were necessary to suspend council's rules for three readings to clear the way for emergency passage, the ordinance was given a first reading and held for second at the next regular meeting.

The next regular meeting, however, will be Jan. 13 — at which time Councilwoman-elect Cheryl Ramos will occupy the Ward 1 council seat vacated by Colleen Espenschied, whose "yes" votes helped keep the approval at 4-3.

Ramos, who has been attending council meetings for nearly a year as a private citizen, said after Monday's meeting that she is not ready to cast a "yes" vote on the new proposal.

During the special meeting, Fete offered his observations that there has been a heated argument between two factions of City Council over the issue of pay raises for nonunion, mostly supervisory positions.

One faction, he said, believes that the employee salary structure should be corrected to overcome an imbalance between the managers and the employees they manage, "who through the benefit of having collective bargaining available to them now have the ability to earn wages that far outpace their supervisors, or in layman terms, their bosses."

Page 2 of 3 - Fete said it is the belief of this faction, that such a course correction is necessary to maintain and recruit the best possible persons in order to provide quality government services.

The other faction, he said, "believes that due to recent losses of city revenue at the state level, and due to a generally poor economic recovery, the city is now nearing a financial crisis where it can no longer afford raises because that would be an imprudent use of the limited taxpayer funds available."

"This faction's belief is strengthened by the fact that voters overwhelmingly rejected an increase in city income tax and thereby sent a message that council needs to get its fiscal house in order," he added.

"Both arguments have equal merit and I will never issue a legal opinion to say that one side is more correct than the other, but I will always take my time to ensure that this body follows the legal and proper course of action," Fete said.

"There are a lot of hurt feelings on this issue," the law director noted. However, "the blame game has to stop," he said.

Fete said Councilwoman Sandy Cox, who was absent Monday, did not overstep her bounds by asking that the proposed raises not be included in the temporary appropriations. "Any member of council has the right to do the same thing she did," he added.

Fete added that any other council member could have requested the raises be included in the temporary appropriations, as Lautenschleger did.

Some wanted to blame Gundy because she said there was no legislation that granted the raises, Fete said. "Beth Gundy is not able to override the Ohio Revised Code or the Ohio Auditor's Office she is only doing her job," he added.

"The blame game stops now and personal responsibility and decency begins anew," Fete told council. "Let's make a new start for the New Year," he urged all in attendance.

Council President Sam Hitchcock said he would like to see all of council work together for the betterment of the community.

Fete said afterward that what council did last week "was to allocate funds for raises, by amending the temporary appropriations ordinance." His advice to council members for the New Year: "Pick up the phone and call the person next to you."

Lautenschleger said afterward that his intent in proposing the increases is "treating everybody fairly," and offered a reminder that council — unanimously — had approved bargaining contracts that enacted three-year raises, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Ramos said voters' rejection of a proposed income tax increase on Nov. 5 "was a clear message for the city to address the projected budget deficit of $2 million." In spite of that clear message, she noted that council recently granted a $20,000 pay raise to the fire chief's annual salary, and is now considering additional pay increases through the ordinance given a first reading Monday night.

Page 3 of 3 - When she takes office, Ramos said she looks forward to working with each council member to focus on the most important issue: "How to provide quality city services to the residents given the projected deficit."

Regarding the proposed ordinance up for a second reading on Jan. 13: "I think they need to look at it more," she said.